Sampdoria striker Atsushi Yanagisawa came to the rescue with his second goal of the week to give Japan a 1-1 draw away to Romania in the final game of its friendly tour of Africa and Europe on Saturday.
After falling behind to a first-half strike from Adrian Mutu, Yanagisawa -- who scored his first goal in almost two years against Tunisia on Wednesday -- beat the Romania offside trap before slotting home in the 58th minute to give Zico's men a deserved share of the spoils in Bucharest.
"We came up against a tough Romanian side that have a lot of skillful players and I thought we played well, particularly in the second half," said Japan coach Zico.